Software conflict analysis

University of Arizona (UA) Prof Jerzy Rozenblit has received a $2.2m grant to design computer software that can analyse volatile political and military situations.

The software will predict the actions of paramilitary groups, ethnic factions, terrorists and criminal groups, while aiding commanders in devising strategies for stabilising areas before, during and after conflicts.

The Asymmetric Threat Response and Analysis Project, known as ATRAP, is a complex set of computer algorithms that sift through millions of pieces of data, considering many factors including social, political, cultural, military and media influences, said Rozenblit, who holds the Raymond J. Oglethorpe Endowed Chair in the electrical and computer engineering department at the UA.

The software can handle data loads that would overwhelm human analysts, while dispassionately exploring actions and behaviours based solely on the data, sidestepping human cultural biases that might prematurely rule out unorthodox or seemingly bizarre courses of action.

ATRAP will use sophisticated computational methods based on game theory, co-evolution and genetic algorithms.